_Sir William Hankford_ (Vol. v., p. 43.).--I see that MR. FOSS (_Judges
of England_, vol. iv. p. 325.) disbelieves the story of the suicide of
Sir William Hankford, as told by Prince in his _Worthies of Devon_,
because there was then nothing in the political horizon to justify the
"direful apprehension of dangerous approaching evils," assigned by
Prince as the judge's inducement for wishing to die. His death, however
it occurred, happened in 1422.
MR. FOSS'S doubts seem in some measure to be warranted by the fact that
Holinshed places the incident about half a century later, in 1470 or
1471; and he thinks it more probable (_Ibid._ p. 427.) that the suicidal
story may apply to Sir Robert Danby, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,
because that judge disappeared in the latter year; and the circumstances
of the time were really such as were likely to excite the fears
described as the cause of the catastrophe. Sir Robert Danby, who had
been a judge of the Common Pleas under Henry VI., was made chief justice
of that court by Edward IV. in 1461, the first year of that king's
reign. On the restoration of Henry VI. in 1470, he was continued in his
office, and the sudden return of Edward IV. in the following year might
occasion an apprehension in a weak mind sufficiently strong to lead to
the tragical result. Certain it is that a new chief justice, Sir Thomas
Brian, was then appointed, and nothing more is told of Sir Robert Danby.
The Hankford's Oak at Annery, the remains of which were seen by Prince,
was as likely to have received its name from its having been planted by
Hankford, as from its being the spot where he died.
Perhaps some correspondents may be able to throw more light on the
transaction, and assist in deciding which is the correct version.